When God Seems Late

"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." John 11:21

The story of Martha, Mary and Lazarus in the book of John tells us that God is never late! Martha, Mary and Lazarus are brothers and sisters. Jesus is very close to them and they consider Him as their personal friend.

When Lazarus was sick, Martha and Mary informed Jesus. But Jesus was not able to come on time to heal Lazarus, instead Lazarus died. This made Martha blamed Jesus for being late.

Did God really abandoned Lazarus? Did he fail to come in Martha's hour of need? Or He was simply late? Sometimes in our lives, we asked God why we were abused, astray, etc. Did God let us down? Did He fail to come in our hour of need? Or His delay has a specific purpose?

One of the reasons for this is that we all live on schedules. We govern our lives by the clock...and we expect God to synchronize His watch with ours! God is not bound by time!

Then Jesus said to Martha- "Thy brother shall rise again." In this case, Martha's blaming was temporary or temporal comfort. When Jesus resurrected Lazarus, Jesus was thinking of eternal comfort. We are interested in benefits which are temporary. God may have forgotten our pain but it isn't so! Jesus told us "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." God is never late.

(From Rev. Teofilito A. Rufon's Messages @ Odiongan Baptist Church Inc.)